1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to hazardous and/or waste liquid collection and containment. More particularly, it relates to a modular and mobile shower system for capturing, containing and collecting hazardous liquids and/or waste water resulting from leaks or from a rinsing procedure of people, machines or other objects that emit or have adhered thereto, substances that are hazardous to the environment if allowed to run-off.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hazardous liquid and waste water collection is known in the prior art. Due to rising concerns that the environment is becoming polluted at an alarming rate by hazardous chemicals, governments, both State and Federal, and those in other countries have begun mandating that water runoff from shower and rinsing procedures be contained and collected for proper disposable to avoid further contamination of the environment. For instance, the simple process of cleaning a piece of machinery that uses solvents, in its capacity to operate must now be cleaned, in most locales, in a controlled rinsing facility or shower system that collects and contains the water used during the cleaning procedure. This waste water is no longer allowed to simply enter the sewer system or run off into the underground aquifer or nearest body of water. Even more simply, the washing of trucks and automobiles, in many locations, now requires that the rinse water be captured, contained and disposed of properly.
An effective waste water collection system is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,139 wherein a containment substrate, or ground cover, applied to a work area includes a water impervious barrier having a drainage waffle located within defined framed area, and a non-skid work surface placed on top. The non-skid work surface contains holes which allow water to pass through the work surface and be collected within the area of the drainage waffle by the water impervious barrier. A pump is in communication with said water imperious barrier and withdraws the waste water during and/or after a rinsing procedure is completed. This invention is extremely useful for work areas that are non-mobile, like, for instance, a car washing facility, wherein cars are driven on top of the large mat-like apparatus. However, if the needs of the user are mobile, or if the apparatus needs to be expanded, due to the object to be rinsed being larger than what the apparatus can handle, a problem arises. It is not easily modifiable. This invention however works extremely well for rinsing procedures wherein the size of the target object to be rinsed is predictable, the same each time or always located in the same place. On the other hand, this system is not easily made mobile nor does it have the ability to be modular without making alterations to the overall design of the device once constructed. Alterations can be made, but requires an increase in overhead costs and a delay in use of the apparatus thereby temporarily disabling the ability to generate a stream of income from said apparatus.
Other problems with hazardous liquid and waste water containment and collection have also recently arisen as to wars, crime, terrorism and environmental accidents. In particular, it is not uncommon for businesses, public facilities and land areas to be exposed or infected to deadly biological or chemical substances that are extremely hazardous to remove. These affected areas need to be cleaned with direct human intervention. One will recall a string of biological terrorist attacks that occurred in the United States in late 2001 and early 2002 wherein anthrax spores were mailed utilizing the United States Postal Service. These anthrax spores were found to be prevalent in a US Post Office in Florida. That office was subsequently closed and condemned as infected with Anthrax until it could be properly cleaned. People, skilled in the knowledge of hazardous material clean-up, had to go to the location and clean the facility.
During a cleaning procedure as mentioned directly above, the people involved must wear protective suits. These individuals typically work in shifts of two people for twenty minutes each, for example. When their shift is completed, they must be thoroughly cleansed before they can remove their protective wear. They are cleansed in an area designated as the “Hot Zone”. In these Hot Zones, showers need to be set up to cleanse the workers. However, to allow the rinse water to simply run off and into ground or sewer would be self-defeating and negate the reason for cleaning the affected area in the first place. These shower systems are commonly used by the groups designated as HAZMAT, an acronym for “Hazardous Material”. HAZMAT groups are typically organized under a local fire department or crisis reaction team in any given town, city or state.
To date, the prior art lacks a system which can adequately handle the necessary capture, collection and containment of the waste water resulting from hazardous clean-up showers, such as those required in a Hot Zone. The deficiencies seen in the prior art include a lack of any system which can be quickly deployed and/or enlarged at a moment's notice. This deficiency could prove to be critical in the event of a large scale biological terrorist attack. In such scenario, Hot Zone showers would need to be installed rapidly, efficiently and be adaptable to changing conditions. If a large scale attack occurred, it may be necessary to enlarge or even scale back the shower system once the experts understand what they are dealing with. It would not be surprising to have an attack at one location and then another attack in some other location. Terrorists have shown this to be a familiar pattern. If the first location is cleansed and secure, HAZMAT would want to dissemble the shower system at the first location and rapidly reassemble it at the other location. This would prove to be difficult or impossible with the existing state of the art. Clearly, an improvement in the art is needed.
Further to the occurrence of biological or chemical attacks or accidents, if a large portion of society was exposed, it is obvious that those infected would seek immediate medical attention inundating hospitals and other emergency facilities. The people infected may end up exposing a large percentage of the health care providers whose help they seek if not properly cleansed prior to examination or treatment. Accordingly, a need exists for a shower system that can be installed quickly and efficiently at the triage or entry level of all emergency facilities and hospitals. No such system exits in the prior art. Nor does a system exist that can be modified rapidly to accommodate a rising number of patients over a short time period. An improvement in the prior art is necessary to handle these critical threats and actual occurrences.
Other problems exist with hazardous liquid capture and containment. There is a need for collection systems that can be placed “in-line” in facilities of all types. For instance, when transferring hazardous liquids from fifty-five gallon drums, it is not uncommon to have spills or leaks. It would therefore be useful to have a system which could capture these liquids, contain them and even recycle them back into said drums (a so-called secondary containment system as mandated by EPA regulations for transferring harmful liquids). Further, there exists a need for systems that can be employed in the food industry underneath refrigerator, freezers and meat lockers, for example. In the case of a power outage, water and other liquids that could be hazardous to the contents of said coolers need to be contained, kept separate from said food and disposed of properly. Still further, a need exists for a system which can be employed in the medical field to capture and contain drugs, blood, body parts and internal organs of both humans and animals in a multitude of medical and vetinenarian procedures.